What gives the devil special jubilation is when he sees that he has succeeded in
bringing confusion into Christ's Church. Through this, he has put a noose
around the necks of the faithful, for in the state of confusion, they do
nothing. Spiritual growth, evangelization, and the influence of the Holy
Spirit are brought to a halt, or, to a very slow pace.
Another subtlety satan thrives on is the introduction of speed into our
daily living. HURRY UP! The mind and the will cannot work well when there
is the pressure brought on by our culture propelling it to speed everything
up. Our way of life is a far cry from that of our grandparents. In years
gone by, there was a more deliberated life. People were not so in a hurry
and so could take more time to think more clearly and to do things better.
It is an interesting point that, as we have with us fast foods, fast this
and that, instant this and instant that, we still complain that we don't
have time to do what is expected of us. "Hurry up and wait" comes to the
foreground quite often. How does satan gain in all of this? When we try
to pray and when we try to serve God, it does not work when we do it in a
hurry. The mind and especially the heart need to be in a peaceful state if
they are to do their best in the service of their God. God is deprived of
so much when we try to give to Him what is His in a hurry.
The process of separating the faithful from their shepherd is also one of
satan's subtle ways in gaining control of human beings and revenging
himself on God. He, amongst other means, uses the media to accomplish
this. There is the dissecting of whatever comes out of the Vatican for the
faithful. It is no business of the media, but the media makes it its
business and makes it very difficult for the faithful to give respect and
obedience to what the Holy Father as the Supreme Shepherd, wishes of his
flock. There is so much of the priest bashing going on. Satan has a major
part in this, and through it, prods people to lose reverence for their
priests upon whom in so many ways they depend so much.
There are many more subtleties, too many for us to go into now. From what
has been already put forth, it is clear that satan is shrewd and cunning.
He is pulling out all stops and making use of every one of his fallen
angels, as also people in our midst into whom he has entered, to bring
destruction to faith, to trust, to love, to obedience. We must be careful
not to become obsessed by him or his ways, for then, we, too, play into his
hands.
To counter satan's strategy of subtleties, we have the strategy of Our
Blessed Mother Mary. We are told by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures that
Mary's strategy will ultimately win out. This is indeed hopeful.
Mary has been teaching us how to detect satan's subtleties and how to
become victorious over satan. This will be treated in next week's column.
NEXT WEEK: Part Six of the sublteties of satan